Maid in Cuba

During my visit to Tales of the Cocktail I wrote home to a friend, that I hadn't tasted a single cocktail that made me go wauw! And that is still true. However now that I'm home there was one, I couldn't quite forget.

It was served during a very interesting seminar about the relationship between forbidden absinthe and the Savoy hotel in London.

Absinthe connoisseur Alan Moss has counted 108 recipes with absinthe in the Savoy Cocktailbook and he and Eric Lorincz and Tom Walker had some interesting insights into how the green fairy made it's way to London in spite of the ban.

And to demonstrate that the American Bar at the Savoy has an enduring love affair with absinthe we got a taste of Tom Walkers creation Maid in Cuba.

A cocktail inspired by both the Mojito, the Daiquiri and one of my all time favorite new classics Audrey Saunders' Old Cuban.

Since the weather is almost tropical here in Denmark, I figured it would make an excellent sundowner, not that the sun sets this early in the far north but it does disappear from my patio around 6 pm.

• 6 cl white rum - I used Plantation 3 star
• 3 cl lime juice
• 1.5 cl simple syrup
• Absinthe rinse
• 3 slices cucumber - and 1 for garnish
• leaves from a sprig of fresh mint
• seltzers

In a shaker add cucumber, mint, rum, lime juice and simple syrup. Shake hard with ice but do not muddle cucumber and mint.

Give a chilled low ball glass an absinthe rinse and double strain cocktail into it. Top up with seltzers and garnish with the last cucumber slice.

This cocktail has a very endearing chlorophyll taste, very much a summer drink. However the next time I'll not add the water and I'll serve it up in a coupe.

First time at TOTC - first time in NOLA

New Orleans get under your skin, up you nose, into your ears and burns your eyeballs really fast.

I've never before been to a place that is felt in quite such a physical way.

Not all good, not all bad. And now that I have returned to the tranquility of my home, it has made me more aware of how this remote northeastern part of a tiny dot of an island in northern Europe tastes, smells, looks and is making itself heard.

My time was limited - only four nights connecting not quite five days. And the draw was TOTC and all the amazing events it dangled before me. But I did take time to do a few of the most touristy things in NOLA: Eating beignets at Cafe du Monde early one morning, riding the St. Charles Avenue streetcar, walking through both the French Quarter and the French Market.

And I stood and stared at the mighty Mississippi river whenever I got the chance, both on the actual bank in the blazing noonday sun like a mad dog or an Englishman and from the air-conditioned luxury of the Riverview Room at  the Hotel Monteleone - conference HQ and a truly amazing place.

Of course I drank but mostly I listened to the many wonderful tales told at the seminars I went to.

I heard about how ice changed the way we drink and without which civilization could not have moved forward with food safety and a steady supply of citrus to non-tropical areas of the world.

I saw a stunning breakdown of the cocktail bible and learned how The Savoy in London managed to serve absinthe cocktails even after the green fairy was banned.

I got an introduction to growing my own cocktail garden - vertically and indoors if that is what it takes. A very practical and informative seminar that impressed me greatly.

I heard three passionate gentlemen talk about the influence of terroir on spirits as diverse as cognac, tequila and rum. I had to nod in agreement, when Alexandre Gabriel of Pierre Ferrand Cognac coined the term terroir-ist about people, who get so hung up on one detail of something, that they diminish the whole to a fraction.

One of the best cocktail-tales is the one about the trademark wars surrounding Angostura Bitters - Amy Stewart served it perfectly and I walked away with a bottle of Abbott's Bitters.

Finally I learned that the Harvey Wallbanger is entirely made up. There is no wallbanging surfer-dude, just a clever marketing campaign that worked once, and may work again. I'll do my part wearing my HW cap and my HW sunglasses. Mr. Wondrich and Mr. Berry could have talked hours more about the dark ages of the cocktail in the 70's and 80's and the completely full Queen Anne Ballroom would gladly have stayed. But there were prizes to be given out and all good things most come to an end.

I did not go to the award show, I slowly walked back to my hotel and knew it was time to go home, when the sight of a youngish, apprehensive looking couple wearing matching, ill-fitting, fire-engine red Bourbon Street Trouble nr. 1 and Trouble nr. 2 t-shirts made me sad.
 
So here I sit savoring the clean salty taste and smell of fresh air blowing in from Kattegat. Enjoying the cool breeze on my skin and the occasional chirp from a bird.

Here I sit missing New Orleans and the superb event that is Tales of the Cocktail. I need a drink!

Mixology Monday LXXIV Cherries Round-up - part 2

Hopefully you have enjoyed reading about all the amazing contributions to Mixology Monday with a cherry theme in the first part of the round-up.

If not, hurry over, there are many pretty and tasty drinks to try and/or be inspired by.

Rowen of Fogged in Lounge leads off the second part of the round-up with a cocktail he calls Silver Spurs. It's the happy marriage of tequila, sherry and Maraschino liqueur.

In part one of the round-up we have already met Remember the Main, a Rye based classic cocktail that Nick mixed for us.

Jacob Grier from Liquidity Preference sends a variation of that cocktail. Anahuac has a tequila base and takes it's name from a Mexican navy ship. Unlike her American counter part, the Maine, Anahuac did not experience any catastrophic episodes at sea and was quietly scrapped in 1938.

Ceccotti from Bartending Notes takes us through three sours all mixed with Maraschino Liqueur. First one of my favorites, the Aviation and then the Prado and Prado Mineiro mixed on tequila and cachaca respectively and both made smooth with egg white. 

For the second time this MxMo black pepper pops up as a way to compliment the taste of cherry. Todd used pepper in his cocktail Backhand Compliment and Zach of The Venture Mixologist uses pepper in his cocktail.

When in France is a cognac based cocktail mixed with Leopold Bros Michigan Tart Cherry Liqueur. Zach has infused the pepper in grain spirit for a pepper tincture, definitely something I will try.

Then let us head to the 70's cocktail culture. A time known as the dark age of cocktails. Mike from Disco Ginferno shows us otherwise with a cocktail from Playboy's Host and Bar Book from 1971.

The San Juan Sling is a rum based cocktail and looks amazing:

And then a warm welcome to a new participant in MxMo.  And what an impressive debut from Chris and A Bar Above. Not only his first MxMo post but with a video to boot.

The Lone Rainier is a wonderful sounding cocktail based on gin, with cherry, ginger and honey as tasters. And not just any cherries but the priced yellow and pink Rainier cherries developed in the state of Washington.


I don't know if it never happens, that two identical cocktails are submitted to MxMo. It didn't happen this time but we have two with almost identical names. Remember the corset fabric inspired cocktail Fred mixed? The Cherry Blossom Brocade.

Well, Scott of Sip, Strain & Sip has named one of his two entries Cherry Blossom. This gin based cocktail merges St. Germaine and a clear Cherry Liqueur for a real pretty result.

Scott gives us an excellent recipe for preserved cherries that he also uses as a garnish in his second cocktail Cherry Bomb. This is quite a tiki sounding cocktail mixed on rum with pineapple juice and clear cherry liqueur among other ingredients.

The good people of the eGullet Forums sends four lovely cherry cocktails to the party.

Chris Amirault mixed two cocktails with Cherry Heering. The first Tommy Appleseed is an exciting mix of Old Tom Gin, Apple Brandy and Ardbeg Scotch Whisky. His second offering is Sachaca Sling. No photos and I can't find a link deeper than this.

FrogPrincess calls her cocktail Cherry Pop but it's all booze - gin, Maraschino and muddled cherries. A deceptive looking drink definitely not for kids:

Fernet Branca and cherries in a cocktail? Haresfur thinks so and made a variation on the Fernet Cocktail from the Savoy Cocktail Book that also includes a home made Polish cherry liqueur and sounds wonderfully medicinal. This I have to try:

To round of MxMO LXXIV two cocktails that dares to use the word daiquiri in relation to cocktails not strictly rum, lime and sugar.

JFL of Rated R Cocktails mixes an Oregon Outcast - well blends actually - half a cup fresh cherries goes into this ice cold mix based on 12 year demerara rum. 

And I took my clue from a banana daiquiri with dried parsley and added a cherry liqueur drenched ice cone for the full disaster look in The Red Volcano.

UPDATE: I forgot Mark from Cardiff Cocktails in the round-up. Really bad manners especially as his contribution is an Aviation with extra cherry oomph. He calls it Carlig Cocktail and he adds both Cherry Heering and cherry bitters to a base of gin and Maraschino Liqueur and ends up with this pretty presentation:

So there you have it 33 34 amazing cherry cocktails to last you until the next MxMo. It I have forgotten anyone or misunderstood your creative ways let me know. Thanks for participating and thanks to Fred for keeping us all busy with MxMo.

Mixology Monday LXXIV Cherries Round-up - part 1

Like a typical neurotic hostess I was concerned that nobody would participate as I sent out the invitation for this months Mixology Monday.

After the broad themes of drink your vegetables and witches garden in April and May I feared my theme of cherries was way too narrow.

I needed not to have wringed a single hand - you contributed an amazing 33 34 drinks in total (I overlooked an entry) and my spread sheet for getting an overview runs a staggering 10 pages.

The 33 drinks utilizes cherries in many, many forms from fresh fruit to a homemade Polish cherry liqueur and everything in between.

So let's get started because: Dang, cherry cocktails are pretty!

Christa and Shaun of Booze Nerds sends two cocktails.

The Southern Virgin is a fizz mixed with muddled fresh cherries, bourbon and St. Germaine. If it tastes half as refreshing as it looks I'll have a couple:

The second cocktail - Peruvian Disco - is a clever use of syrup from brandied cherries either commercial ones like Luxardo Maraschino Cherries or homemade ones. The syrup is balanced out by Pisco and orange and lemon juice.

Stew from 901 Very Good Cocktails uses Kirchwasser and Cherry Bitters in his intriguing sounding The Cherry Heering No. 2 where the surprise to me is the pear liqueur.

Raff from The Shorter Straw really got into the cherry theme and mixed three cocktails while at the same time taking on Jeffrey Morgenthaler and his claim to make the worlds best Amaretto Sour.

But he started off with the pretty in pink, the Sour Cherry Ramos Gin Fizz. It gets the stunning color from the home made sour cherry soda Raff made for the occasion:

His next presentation is the Amaretto Sour with organic sour cherry jam as the magic ingredient. It certainly looks tasty:

After these two rather complicated cocktails his last offering is a cognac based swizzle. His Casta Swizzle involves muddled sour cherries after they have been flambéed by a burning Angostura Spray, rum, absinthe and several juices. Well done!

One of the ingredients I was hoping someone would mix with is Belgian cherry beer.

And that is exactly what Dustin from Dunder and Lees does. His Guatemalan Poker Hand utilizes both cherry beer and Red Stag Cherry Bourbon for a very hearty sounding cocktail. And he give a great introduction to Belgian beer a long the way.

And then we jump from beer - although as Dustin mentions some Belgian beers are brewed for childen - to cherry soda. I have to admit I didn't know the stuff existed, but it sure lookes tasty.

Ian from Tempered Spirits mixes two cocktail with Cheerwine soda which dates all the way back to 1918. Cheerwine cocktail No. 1 is mixed on gin, it's a variation of a gin rickey and looks like a thirst quencher.

Cheerwine Cocktail No. 2 is a cherry soda variation of an Americano and looks every bit as delicious as No. 1.

Fred from Cocktail Virgin Slut serves a liquid fabric pattern best known from corsets! Kirch meets Genever and Absinths in what sounds like a very happy tryst called Cherry Blossom Brocade.

Kirch is also one of the cherry ingredients in the cocktail from Putney Farm. Stewart turned to a 1951 cocktail book for inspiration and found The Baur Au Lac.

It takes it's name from a fancy hotel in Zürich. At Putney Farm the cocktail got a bit of a makeover with muddled cherries and it looks stunning:

Mike from DrinksBurgh takes us into Tiki territory with a drink called Gold Cup. Maraschino Liqueur is the key to that drink and it involves an ice shell for a dazzling presentation:

And now we are going to sea - actually the bottom of the sea. Nick from The Straight Up settled on Remember the Maine after careful consideration of some of the most classic cherry tasting cocktails. A deceptively simple mix of among other things Rye Whiskey and Cherry Heering.

Todd from Concoctails figured he would go all in with the cherry theme. Not only has he mixed two cocktails one of them is the equivalent of three cherries on the slot machine. The gin based The Payout features Cherry Heering, Kirchwasser and Cherry Bitters.

Todd's second cocktail brilliantly mixes pepper and cherry with bourbon in Backhanded Compliment.

Muse of Doom from Feu De Vie also mixed two cocktails. One of which does not look one bit cherry - so to speak. Sweetness and Light is a pretty mix of clear or almost clear ingredients and takes it's taste from both Kirch, orgeat and Solano on a base of Lillet Blanc.

The second cocktail from Feu de Vie had me googling like mad to see if I could find somewhere to purchase ROOT the alchoholic root beer cleverly included in the cocktail So We're Havin' a BBQ, huh? along with cherry liqueur and Jack Daniel's. I love the taste of root beer which is virtually unknown in Denmark. And this cocktail sounds - and looks - great:

And that concludes the first half of the round-up. So get reading, get mixing or just stare at the many lovely drinks while I get started on the second half. Cheers!

The Red Vulcano - MxMo LXXIV

I have so looked forward to this months edition of Mixology Monday - as the host I got to choose the theme of cherries and I also managed to secure one of Cocktail Kingdom's Navy Grog Cone Kits.

That gave me so many options.

The inspiration to the Red Volcano I found in a drink by Hardeep Rehal (sorry in Danish only but try Google Translate) who is head bartender at bar 1105 in the center of Copenhagen.

His Musa Daiquiri is basically a banana daiquiri mixed on aged rum and garnished with dried parsley.

It got me thinking and this is what I ended up with:

• 6 cl white rum - I used Plantation 3 Star
• 3 cl lemon juice
• 1,5 cl gomme syrup
• 3 cl Frederiksdal Cherry Liqueur - similar to Cherry Heering
• 1/4 very ripe banana
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley (I dried it in my oven at 75C for about an hour and then pulverized it) 
• 1 ice cone

Get your cone ready before mixing - just fill it with crushed ice and let it freeze for an hour with the metal straw inserted to make room for a drinking straw.

With a muddler smash the banana in the lemon juice, rum and gomme syrup. Add ice and shake until the banana is completely mixed into the liquid and all is very cold.

Insert straw into cone and place it in a glass,  than strain cocktail over it without soaking the part sticking out.

Next drip the cherry liqueur over the top of the cone to imitate hot lava and sprinkle the dried parsley for an deforestation imitation.

Enjoy!

Mixology Monday LXXIV - Cherry

Singapore Gin Sling, Blood and Sand and the Aviation wouldn't be the same without them. They are brilliant in pies, go great with  pork dishes and may even be a super food able to combat insomnia.

But cherries in cocktails are also horribly abused, few things taste worse than artificial cherry aroma and the description of how most maraschino cherries are made can make you sick to your stomach.

So it's my pleasure as the host of Mixology Monday number 74 to challenge you to honor the humble cherry.

However you choose to do that, is entirely up to you. You could use Maraschino Liqueur, Cherry Heering, Kirchwasser, Belgian Kriek Beer, cherry wine or any spectacular infusions invented by you in a cocktail. Or make your own maraschino cherries for a spectacular garnish.

Whatever you choose, here is how to participate:

Post your drink on your blog, or on egullet’s spirit and cocktail’s forum if you don’t have one, with a picture, the recipe list, and any thoughts on the drink or theme.

Add the MxMo logo to your post with a link to the Mixology Monday website, and one to my Ginhound blog.

Finally comment on this post, with a link to your entry, or you can email me at andreadoria56(at)gmail.com or tweet me on twitter @Husejer. Do all this by midnight on the June 17th.

Duck And Cover - a bar in Copenhagen

Brasilian rosewood, black leather, dark walls and carefully muted light. Kasper Riewe Henriksen formerly of Ruby and a competitor at the Diageo Reserve World Class 2012 Global Final has opened a new bar in Copenhagen that send me right back to my childhood.

I loved an iconic Danish Design Magazine and it's adds for a certain kind of bookcase invented by Poul Cadovius that always had a glass of whiskey in it and a general feel of gentlemans club about it.

We arrived four very thirsty women and were warmly welcomed by Kasper himself who served us water and introduced us to the drinks list.

He is a very efficient bartender so we had our drinks very fast after making a decision. We had ordered a couple of Floral Fizzes, an Ipanema and an Rock Islands.

The latter was for me, and was the very happy marriage of Talisker and Honningsyp - a special mix of aquavit and honey the originated on the island of Bornholm out in the Baltic.

It was a lovely mix - mild smoke from the Talisker and sweetness from the honey. It reminded me of Penicillin - one of my favorite cocktails.

My three friends also enjoyed their drinks, so much so that the next round was one Floral Fizz, and Ipanema, a Gentlemans Cup and a Last Word for me. 

The Last Word was not on the drinks list - but now I know where I can get the best Last Word ever - it was more than perfect.

We visited Duck and Cover just after it opened on an afternoon of a public holiday. Not a busy time at all, but Kasper explained that it was fine with a slow start to get everything working and establishing routines.

I want to come back on a busy evening, and I know there will be many - the bar is in a perfect place in the neighborhood of Vesterbro, close to Lidkoeb a bar owned by the people who own Ruby and an up and coming cocktail spot in the city.

Mixology Monday - Balmy Rhubarb

Mark - the gracious host of Cardiff Cocktails - really challenged me this month with his theme for Mixology Monday: Witches' Garden.

In his announcement post he asked us to raid our herb garden. I really wanted to, but a long harsh winter has left me with a herb garden that looks more like the suburbs of Tjernobyl than anything else.

On the other hand I've spend most of this week slowly savoring my way through Amy Stewart's amazing book The Drunken Botanist, and that meant I had to rise to the occasion - or rather my herb garden had to.

What had survived was some sage and some balsam herb. And nothing can kill rhubarb so I had that too.

The kind of balsam I have is the one that has a camphor-like smell and taste - another one taste and smells more like camomile.  I love things that taste like harsh medicine so that's fine by me.

It's a very interesting herb with a long history and diverse usage from tea to place making in Bibles.

I made a very simple syrup out of some rhubarb, sugar, star anise and a tiny bit of water and cooled that of. Meanwhile I had time for some homemade salted almonds - just cook the almonds for about 5 minutes in quite salted water - I used 2 teaspoons for 10 cl of water - and then dry them in the oven.

The Balmy Rhubarb has a mezcal base and is an egg white cocktail.

• 6 cl Mezcal - I used Illegal Mezcal Joven
• 3 cl rhubarb syrup
• 1,5 cl lime juice
• 6 leafs of balsam herb
• 1/2 egg white
• 2 dashes strawberry balsam bitters

I started by basing the balsam herb up good with the rhubarb syrup and the lime juice. The I added the egg white and the mezcal and gave it a good dry shake. Finished of with adding ice to the shaker and then shaking again.

Strain into cocktail coupe (you could double strain but I kind of like tiny bits of herbs in my drinks) add bitter and garnish with a balsam herb leaf - or a pretty edible flower. I found a tiny colony of blooming chives growing on my patio.

Enjoy - and thanks for making be work and think Mark!

 

Donny Draper

As perhaps the only human being in the western world I don't get Mad Men - as in have tried, but have not caught the bug. However the impact the series have on pop culture - and the interest it sparks in certain classic cocktails is fine with me.

I like the occasional Old Fashioned and it's fun to play with.

What caught my eye when I spotted the Donny Draper was the sassafras syrup. I love root beer which is quite hard to come by in Denmark in a good quality.

So I set about getting some dried cut up sassafras root and was success full at the online store that supplies me with china bark for home made tonic water.

I followed the recipe for the syrup from this recipe for the Donny Draper and then I was ready to mix:

• 3 barspoons of sassafras syrup
• 3 dashes of Peychaud's bitter
• 6 cl rye whiskey - I used Pikeville

Mix the syrup and bitter in the bottom of an Old Fashioned glass, add the rye and a huge ice cube and stir until the glass clouds over on the outside. Then twist a short peel of lemon over the drink and drop it in.

Very simple and very complex as the ice melts - sort of like the world as we know it.

Beet Beet - Mixology Monday

The moment I saw the theme for this month's Mixology Monday announced by Rowen at the Fogged in Lounge I knew what I was going to mix.

At the end of March I attended Copenhagen Spirits and Cocktails and was served a Bax Beet Pinot during a seminar where Jacob Briars talked about The Secrets of the Worlds Best Bars - and blue drinks of course.

I don't remember much of what he said after I had the first taste - I was so occupied by trying to figure out, how it was made. It originates at Der Raum in Melbourne, Australia, a cocktail bar that I understand is now closed.

The combination of beet juice and Fernet Branca is magic to my taste buds. But then again beets features prominently as a condiment in Danish cooking and next to Finland and Holland I believe we are some of the biggest consumers of licorice - the black, strong, salty kind, not the red American kind - in the world.

Since I got the recipe for the Bax Beet Pinot we were served, I've made it a few times and that is my canvas for todays presentation:

Ode to Bax Beet Pinot

• 2 cl Fernet Branca
• 3 cl Malt syrup (add 1 part hot water to two parts Malt Syrup mix and cool)
• 1,5 cl lime juice
• 1,5 cl beet juice
• 1,5 cl Dubonnet

Mix everything in a shaker with ice, shake and strain into martini glass.

The recipe used at Copenhagen Spirit and Cocktails used sweet vermouth in place of the Dubonnet and simple syrup as the sweetener.

I like the - well - maltiness of malt syrup with the earth element of the beet juice and the quinine in Dubonnet cuts the drink nicely to the refreshing side.

Since I knew I would be up to my elbows in beets, peeling, juicing and what not I decided to try and brew beet juice in the same way as I regularly brew ginger beer. That is adding some, sugar, some citrus and a tiny pea of fresh yeast and then let it brew and carbonated for 48 hours with water.

I will say it's a bit of a mess - it's important to release the pressure in the brew after the first 24 hours, by unscrewing the cap on the bottle.

Fortunately something told me to do that in my garden because I ended up with a fountain of scarlet, foamy beet beer out of the bottle and all over my front garden.

However the finished product is quite nice - a mild beet taste, a very slight yeast and malt taste and lots of fine bubbles. This brew is the basis for my next presentation:

Beet Beet Cooler

• 2 cl gin
• 2 cl Fernet Branca
• 1 cl lemon juice
• 1 cl Cherry Heering
• 1 cl malt syrup
• 8 cl beet beer

Stir the first five ingredients with plenty of ice in a high ball glass, then add the beet beer and garnish with a slice of lemon dipped in a mixture of sugar and licorice root and caramelized on a hot pan, add festive peacock, umbrella or other fun long drink decoration.

Enjoy and thanks for the great theme Rowen.